A part of "Everything you can Think of is True" by Heidi Kenyon, an installation of trimmed Avocado leaves.

One item not shown that I particularly liked was Adele Booth's "The Post Building Project" where Adele placed small found samples of Adelaide buildings in envelopes around the city. Those envelope locations were indicated on a city map.

Some of the envelopes were returned by anaonymous finders by post, these formed part of the display, along with the map.

The Haines brothers were both born in Glenelg. They were living in Quorn, as were their parents, Charles and Clara, at the time the war broke out. Their father was an engine driver.

Hurtle Thomas Haines was the older of the two, almost 24 when he enlisted. He was a locomotive fireman with a dark complexion, brown eyes and black hair. Charles Ernest Haines was 19 and a half, not quite as dark as his brother but with the same colour hair and eyes. The younger Charles was working as a shop assistant when he enlisted but he had been in military cadets for 7 years and the Citizens Forces for 18 months.They both enlisted at Quorn on the same day and were both attached to A Company of the 2nd Depot Battalion. It was 16 May, 1916.

Their apparent plan to stay together started to come unstuck on the 3 July when Hurtle was admitted to the camp hospital complaining of abdominal pain. He was examined for a hernia but nothing was found, so he was discharged and allotted to the 20th reinforcements of the 10th Battalion. Meanwhile Charles came down with the flu and spent 7 days in hospital at Mitcham. When he was discharged he was sent back to the second reinforcements to the 43rd Battalion, which he had joined previously in June.

Now in different units, the brothers embarked for overseas in August. On the 12th aboard HMAT Ballarat for Charles and 16 days later on the HMAT Anchises for Hurtle.Both disembarked at Plymouth, with Charles arriving on the last day of September and Hurtle arriving on the 11th of October. Hurtle spent his next few weeks with the Third Training Battalion at Perham Downs while Charles was with the 11th Training Battalion at Cosford.

Neither of the brothers returned to the units they set out from Australia to join. In November Charles was taken on strength by 41 Battalion and on the 24th of that month embarked for overseas via Southampton.Hurtle was transferred to 27 Battalion and departed from Folkestone aboard the SS Golden Eagle eight days before Christmas, 1916. He was officially taken on strength on new years day, 1917.

Six and a half months after enlisting, both brothers were on French soil.

On the 3 January, Charles was promoted in the field to Lance Corporal but at the end of February he was wounded in the back and side. He ended up in the Ninth Australian Field Hospital. Two days later Hurtle was killed at Warlencourt and buried in the field. Charles was discharged from hospital at the end of March and rejoined 41 Battalion. He too was killed just 4 days after rejoining his unit.News of Charles wounding reached his parents in Quorn, followed by news of Hurtle’s death. Their father wrote on April 10 enquiring about how Hurtle was killed and how Charles was. His reply was that no further information was known about Hurtle and Charles was also dead.

The brothers’ mother received a pension of 40 shillings per fortnight due to the loss of her sons. By this time Clara was living in Alberton, back in Adelaide. In July, Richard Holberton’s mother Eliza tried to contact Clara through military channels. Even though Richard was a signaler with 48 Battalion, his mother thought Richard and Hurtle were trench mates. Richard must have mentioned Hurtle in letters written home to her. Richard also was killed April.

Today the grave of Charles is in the London Rifle Brigade Cemetery. Hurtle has no known grave and is commemorated on the Villers Bretonneux Memorial

George had spent four years in the Cadets and Citizens Forces, was 18 at enlistment and his apprenticeship had just finished.He enlisted on the 28th of August, 1915 when he was accepted as a private in C Company of the 2nd Training Depot. In early November George was transferred to the Australian Army Medical Corps at Mitcham due to his experience as a Dental Mechanic. Five days later he was attached to the Sixth Field Artillery Brigade as a dental orderly and on the 18th of November he was reclassified as a gunner and included with the brigade 4th reinforcements.

In March of 1916, George embarked with the brigade reinforcements from Melbourne aboard the HMAT Malwa.By May George was in Egypt for training. During this time he found himself in the third Australian General Hospital with dysentery for a fortnight. On discharge he spent time in a convalescent camp in Ras el Tin.In August George traveled to England and by September he was in Winchester. From the 18th to the 20th George was absent from roll call and was found guilty of an offence.

In October he was marched into the 8th Training Battalion and in November he proceeded overseas to France on the SS “Golden Eagle”. On the 12th of that month he marched into Etaples and 13 days later was taken on strength by 32 Battalion.

Georges military record from here on shows consistent problems with health. On the 11th of December he was admitted to hospital sick and over the next nine days is moved through a number of medical units till he finally arrives in Rouen and is diagnosed with “trench foot”.

Trench foot was a significant problem for the soldiers during the first war. Caused by prolonged exposure of the feet to cold and damp, it caused the sufferer’s feet to swell, go numb and change colour to red or blue. At its worst the feet develop open sores and blisters and bad fungal infections flourish. Untreated the condition can lead to amputation due to gangrene. Even when treated early and well the sufferer is subject to intense pain as the feeling comes back to their extremities.

A month later, in the middle of January, 1917, George was released from hospital and on the 20th he marched into the base depot in Etaples.

Two months later George was again admitted to the hospital in Etaples suffering from PUO (Pyrexia of Unknown Origin), simply put, a fever which hadn’t been diagnosed. This time George was put aboard the HS “Newhaven” at Calais and sent to England, where he was admitted to Fort Pitt Hospital in Chatham a week after his initial admission to the Etaples Hospital. George’s medical treatment must have been long as he was transferred, again, to another hospital in Harefield on the 12th of April. On the 7th of May George was given a thorough medical examination and found to be “unfit for general service for 6 months, but fit for home service” and on the 14th he was allowed to go on furlough.

On return from his two weeks leave George underwent another medical exam which confirmed that he was suffering from a pre-existing back injury and he was directed to report to Number 2 Command Depot in Weymouth where he was taken on strength officially on 16th September.

By December George was slated to return to Australia and on the 21st he boarded the HMAT “Persic” for his return journey.In February of 1918 he was back in South Australia at the Number 7 general Hospital in Keswick and was formally discharged due to health reasons on the 18th of March 1918.

Wednesday, February 06, 2008

John was a 19 year old farm labourer when he enlisted on 16th October 1916. His family lived on their farm at Wyacca, north of Quorn. His father was also known as John.John was enlisted as a private and embarked for Europe aboard the HMAT “Afric”. It was the 7th November when he left Adelaide as part of the 22nd reinforcements for the 10th Battalion.After a Christmas at sea, John disembarked in Plymouth in early January, 1917.By the end of January John had been admitted to the 2nd Auxilary Hospital in Southall with what was diagnosed as the flu, however after three weeks he was well enough to be released and marched into the 3rd Training Battalion in Durrington.His training on the Salisbury plains continued until on the 9th of April he was admitted to the Fargo Military Hospital with an ear infection, Otitis Media, possibly a remnant of his earlier flu. His condition didn’t improve, on the 26th he was noted as seriously ill and in the early hours of the 27th he died. The diagnosis was “Pyaemia”, a widespread inflammation which was almost always fatal before the invention of modern antibiotics.On the 30th April, John was buried in Durrington Cemetery by the local undertaker, Mr Bishop.

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Disease was an ever present problem. The Australians buried in the Durrington Cemetery from January to April 1917 numbered 87. They all came from Fargo Military Hospital and they died of the following:Pneumonia 26Broncho-pneumonia 25Bronchitis (Acute, 2) 15Bronchitis and Complications 5Influenza 3Tubercle of the lung 2Otitis Media and Complications 2Tuberculosis of the lung 1Appendicitis 1Brain Concussion (struck by car) 1Duodenal Ulcer 1Fractured skull (Bomb, training accident) 1Heart Failure, Cerebral Haemorage, Brights Disease 1Lobar Pneumonia 1Polyneuritis 1Suicide 1

Letter reporting the discovery of Earnest's remains during "bringing in" of graves:

Earnest enlisted at Quorn in March 1916 when he was 18 years old. He was 165cm (5 feet 5 inches) and 58 kg (128 pounds) with fair hair and light brown eyes, he had been working as a farm labourer. Exactly one month later he was aboard HMAT Aeneas and bound for the war. He was allotted to 50th Battalion in Egypt at Tel el Kebir at the end of May where he would have continued his training.Earnest must have been rushed to Europe with not much training as he disembarked in Marseilles from the HMAT Arcadian on the 12th of June, less than three and a half months after enlistment. During July earnest was admitted to the Second Casualty Clearing Station suffering from gastritis.

On the 16 August Earnest was reported as missing in the fighting around Moquet Farm.

No prisoner records were available from the Germans and a court of enquiry held almost a year later returned the verdict that Earnest was killed the night he went missing. Also killed in this battle was Francis Rogers, whose story will be recounted later.

Unlike many of the other Quorn men who would be reported missing, including Francis Rogers, remains found in 1921 during the bringing in of graves from Moquet Farm were identified as belonging to Earnest. He was reinterred at Ovillers British Cemetery. Of all the Quorn soldiers who saw active service, Earnest has the unfortunate distinction of serving for the shortest time, 168 days.

About Me

An Australian country boy, who in his forties (and on an impulse) decided to go to Germany in 2004. And then again with my kids in 2005 (including France and the UK too) and then _again_ in 2006 (France, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium)! I visited Austria and Spain for Christmas 2008/9 and have spent some time in the Middle East as well as a couple of visits to Pacific Islands.
Bit of a travel junkie I think.
In addition to being a keen recreational pilot qualified to fly gliders, ultralights and general aviation, since starting this blog, I have also taken up a little bit of diving and some underwater photography, so bits of that will also appear.